With 8 days until it’s Valentine’s Day I need to find the perfect recipe. I decided today I’d make cream puffs for the first time.
My boyfriend loves peanut butter jelly sandwiches and this was my fancy version of them.
CREAM PUFF PASTRY:
Ingredients
* 1 Cup water
* 8 Tbsps unsalted butter
* 1/4 Tsp salt
* 1 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
* 4 eggs
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats.
2. Combine water, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat until the butter has melted and then bring it to a rolling boil. Add the flour all at once, stirring vigorously.
3. Lower to medium heat, continuing to stir until the mixture is smooth. You should be able to form a ball of dough.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool for about 10 minutes.
5. Transfer the mixture to a stand mixer and beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. (The mixture will look curdled at first, but once you add all the eggs in and continue mixing it, it will smooth out.)
6. Add batter to a piping bag. Pipe 2” circles onto the prepared baking sheets. Space them about 3-4” apart so they have room to expand.
7. Bake the pastries for 20-25 minutes or until they’re a medium golden brown. (Remember not to open the oven door while they’re baking or they may deflate!)
8. Remove the puffs from the oven
9. Let cool for about 30mins to an 1hrs
10. Once cooled sliced them in half and fill with favorite filling
For the filling I cheated and used frozen ready to whip frosting I found in smart and final for $6 in the frozen dessert section. These are great but you have to let them sit overnight in the fridge so plan ahead for that.
For this particular recipe I used the vanilla. Let me tell you I thought it was gonna be easy peasy. It was not. These take a while to mix and without a stand mixer these things are a nightmare to whisk. Great arm workout tho.
When it reached hard peaks I added 2 cup of creamy peanut butter and folded it in with a spatula before adding to a pipping bag and frosted the bottoms half’s of my cream puffs.
I added fresh raspberries and melted chocolate and powdered sugar to add some pizzazz.
My favorite part of making this recipe is knowing you can literally fill cream puffs with anything.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment, take a photo, and tag me on Instagram with #recipeswithbunny.